Debate on Irish Home Rule

1886

Intro

This newspaper article from The Pall Mall Gazette on 8 June 1886 reports on Prime Minister William Gladstone's speech on the subject of Home Rule in Ireland. The Irish Home Rule bills intended to grant self-government and national autonomy to the whole of Ireland, reversing the Act of Union (1800).

Charles Stuart Parnell took over the leadership of the Home Rule movement from Isaac Butt in 1877. As an M.P., he obstructed the business of the House of Commons to draw attention to the grievances of Ireland. Gladstone had decided to support the cause of Home Rule for Ireland by December 1885, and he introduced a Bill to carry this through the House of Commons in June 1886. The Pall Mall Gazette of 8 June 1886 summarises the speech he gave at the end of the debate. His closing words: "Think, I beseech you, think well, think wisely, think not for a moment but for the years that are to come before you reject our plan." The appeal however was unsuccessful. The Liberal party was split on the issue, and Home Rule for Ireland was not achieved until 1922.